Hume: TLDH Vol 1 Ltr 136 To: Millar [57] p 256
† * 136. To ANDREW MILLAR

Dear Sir

About ten days ago, I received a Letter from you with four enclosd which I deliver’d. Mr Kincaid immediatly pay’d me the Money; Mr Gordon† 1 said he woud pay me this Week; Mr Balfour† 2 desird a little delay, & said he wou’d pay me as soon as he conveniently coud: Mr Wright† 3 I have not yet met with.

Some time before that, I got yours; where you had inserted the Passage which probably gave Dr Brown Occasion for his fine Reflexion; which surely I shall never take the least Notice of. I must however beg the Favor of you, in order to prevent all such Misrepresentations for the future, that you woud burn all my Letters, which do not treat of Business; that is, I may say all of them. For as all Business is clos’d between us, there can be no use of keeping the Letters. I own to you, that it woud be very disagreeable to me, if by any Accident these Letters shoud fall into idle People’s hands, and be honord with a Publication. As to what you say, about your Frankness & Openness in mentioning things, which malevolent People sometimes make a bad Use of, I can readily excuse you: For I find it is an Infirmity of my own.

257

I must desire you to put up in one Parcel three Copies of my History small Paper, in boards, both Volumes; together with three Copies, like binding, of my four Dissertations: And direct the whole to Monsr de la Rouviere a ROTTERDAM: And to send it thither by a sure hand, together with the smallest of these two Letters enclos’d. Monsr de la Rouviere is to send them as Presents to Paris, one to L’Abbe le Blanc who is translating my History: The other two to different Persons, who have desir’d them from me. Please to state them to my Account, at the Bookseller’s Price; and send me the whole Account I owe you, that I may deduct it from your Bill.

I have now been settled in Edinburgh near two months; and so much to my Satisfaction, that there is no chance of my ever leaving it, during the few Years that I can propose to live. Among other Occupations, or rather Amusements, in which I employ myself, I am giving a new and very attentive Perusal of the last Edition of my History;† 1 and hope at last to bring it as near Correctness as possible. I tell you this, that if ever you have occasion to make a new Edition of that work, you may apply to me, or, if I be dead, to my Heirs, in order to print from this corrected Copy.

The largest of the Letters to Monsr de la Rouviere, please to put into the Post. I have sent you a Copy of Douglas, which you will be so good as to put up in the same Parcel with my History & Dissertations. The Edinburgh Edition is more correct than yours, & contains some Lines, which were struck out in the latter. I hope to get it translated into French, & acted at Paris.

L’Abbé le Blanc tells me of a Work called L’Ami de l’homme ou Traité de la Population wrote by the Marques de Mirabaut.† 1 He extolls this Piece much, & says it has met with vast Success at Paris. He also tells me, that it speaks much of my Writings, & that the Author had sent me a Copy which never came to hand. If the Book be in Nourse’s† 2 or Vaillant’s,† 3 I shoud be very desirous of having a Copy; and if you get it in Sheets please send it by the Post. Mr Elliot will frank it for you.

The Translation of the first Volume of my History will be publishd next Winter at Paris: The same Person is to translate the second, but wants a Copy. This makes me very anxious that these Copies may go by a safe hand. I shoud be glad to hear what the Connoisseurs with you say of that singular Piece the Epigoniad. I am dear Sir

Your most obedient humble Servant

DAVID HUME

Edinburgh

21 July. 175

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† * MS., R.S.E.; Englische Studien, Band 63, Heft 3 (1929); hitherto unpublished in England.

† 1 An Edinburgh bookseller in partnership with Murray.

† 2 John Balfour, the bookseller, publisher (with Hamilton and Neill) of the History, vol. i.

† 3 Probably Charles Wright, bookseller and stationer in Edinburgh Parliament Close from 1750 to 1774.

† 1 Victor Riqueti, Marquis de Mirabeau (1715-89), father of the famous Mirabeau of the French Revolution. He began life as a soldier, then retired and took to economics, attaching himself to the school of Quesnay and the Physiocrats. His most famous work is the one referred to here, L’ami des hommes [not de l’homme], ou Trait de la population, Paris, 1755, 5 vols., 12mo.

† 2 John Nourse (died 1780), bookseller to H.M. the King. He was a mathematician, and specialized in French books.

† 3 Paul Vaillant (1716-1802), bookseller in the Strand; grandson of Paul Vaillant (died 1739) who founded the firm; Sheriff of London and Middlesex, 1760. He also specialized in French (and classical) books.

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Hume: NLDH Ltr 101 To: Strahan [69] p 188
† * 101. To WILLIAM STRAHAN

<Edinburgh, 16 October 1769>

Dear Sir

I have now been settled in Edinburgh near two months; and so much to my Satisfaction, that there is no chance of my ever leaving it, during the few Years that I can propose to live. Among other Occupations, or rather Amusements, in which I employ myself, I am giving a new and very attentive Perusal of the last Edition of my History;† 1 and hope at last to bring it as near Correctness as possible. I tell you this, that if ever you have occasion to make a new Edition of that work, you may apply to me, or, if I be dead, to my Heirs, in order to print from this corrected Copy.

This Quarto Edition is very beautiful; but it is disfigur’d by one Circumstance, which I am at a loss to account for: Some Pages and some Paragraphs are visibly much looser and opener printed than others; insomuch that there is often a Difference of two or three Lines in a Page. As it was done from a printed Copy, I cannot imagine what was the Compositor’s fancy for this Irregularity nor what he gain’d by it. Please give him Injunction to guard against it in the new Edition of my Essays,† 2 which, I hope, is in forwardness.

Before you publish the Quarto Edition† 3 please send a Copy of all the ten Volumes in boards† 4 to Lady Aylesbury in little Warwick Street, another to Lady Holderness in Hertford Street: Send a Copy of the History in 8 Volumes to Lord Hertford in Grosvenor Street: The two Volumes of Essays send with my Compliments to Lord Bathurst in St. James’s Square.† 5 These make three Copies of that Set: A Copy went abroad. Please to send me two Copies to Edinburgh with the first Opportunity, which will compleat the Number, that I lay claim to on any new Edition. By the bye I hope the Copy of the History has been sent to Smithoff Bookseller in ROTTERDAM , who is translating it.† 1 If not, be so good as to forward it.

189

I think you grow every day madder in England: There is a Prospect that that worthless Generation will soon bring themselves to ruin, by their own folly.† 2

Send me about the new Year an Account of what I owe you for binding these Copies in boards; and also for the Chronicle,† 3 which supplies me with all I want to know of the present Age. I am Dear Strahan

Your most obedient humble Servant

DAVID HUME

Edinburgh, James’s Court.

16 of October

† 1 An 8vo translation appeared at ROTTERDAM , 1769-74, as Historie van Engeland van den inval van Julius Caesar tot de staetsverandering in’t jaer 1688.

† 2 This sentiment appears frequently in Hume’s letters, 1767-76.

† 3 The London Chronicle, owned by Strahan.

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